Growth was driven by new undersea cable links, the launch of many global WiMax networks, and new fiber-to-the-premises services.

The Wall Street Journal this morning had a short article pointing out the somewhat obvious reasons why location-based services on cell phones are still not mainstream. It also helpfully pointed out that carriers were working on it. To recap, LBS services need three main things: a way to get location (which we have thanks to GPS chips and even the ability to triangulate using Wi-Fi networks), software that can make sense of geographic information and do something with it (which are out), and cooperation between handset makers and carriers to enable developers to access such services easily.

It’s the cooperation piece that fails, but the article points to several companies such as Nokia, uLocate’s Where application and SkyHook Wireless that are attempting to bridge that gap by offering a platform that will sit between carriers and smaller developers. For example, uLocate has signed a deal with Sprint to act as the LBS platform for its WiMAX network. Smaller developers can sign on through Where and get access to WiMAX subscribers without worrying about working with Sprint or getting the location information form a provider. I suppose since we’ve waited this long for LBS, most of us can wait a little longer.

image courtesy of Where

The Wall Street Journal this morning had a short article pointing out the somewhat obvious reasons why location-based services on cell phones are still not mainstream. It also helpfully pointed out that carriers were working on it. To recap, LBS services need three main things: a way to get location (which we have thanks to GPS chips and even the ability to triangulate using Wi-Fi networks), software that can make sense of geographic information and do something with it (which are out), and cooperation between handset makers and carriers to enable developers to access such services easily.

It’s the cooperation piece that fails, but the article points to several companies such as Nokia, uLocate’s Where application and SkyHook Wireless that are attempting to bridge that gap by offering a platform that will sit between carriers and smaller developers. For example, uLocate has signed a deal with Sprint to act as the LBS platform for its WiMAX network. Smaller developers can sign on through Where and get access to WiMAX subscribers without worrying about working with Sprint or getting the location information form a provider. I suppose since we’ve waited this long for LBS, most of us can wait a little longer.

image courtesy of Where

pMSI has officially announced the WIND U120 Netbook for the U.S. market. The U120 will feature integrated WiMAX or 3.5G wireless (optional) and this is what separates it from the existing WIND netbooks already available. /p pIn addition to regular netbook features, the U120 will come with a 6-cell battery, 802.11n WiFi and even integrated Bluetooth. Rest of the technical specs for the WIND U120 are fairly standard. Here's a quick rundown of the hardware this unit packs inside:/p ul li1.6GHz Atom Processor li945GS2 + ICH7-M Chipset liGMA 950 Graphics li1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM li10 1024 x 400 LED backlit LCD li160GB 2.5 SATA HDD li4-in-1 Card Reader li6-cell battery li1.3MP WebCam li802.11n WiFi + Bluetooth 2.0 EDR + WiMAX / 3.5G HSDPA liStereo speakers li3 x USB 2.0, Mic In, Headphone, Ethernet, D-Sub Ports liDimension: 10.23” x 7.08” x 0.38” ~ 1.29” liWeight: ~ 3 lbs (with 6-Cell Battery) /ul pMSI will also bundle a standard or retractable mouse with the U120 package for users who prefer not to use the touch pad. Their pricing and release date for WIND U120 Netbook in the U.S. hasn't been revealed so far./p

div class="rxbodyfield"p class="ArticleBody" page="1"Seeking to bridge "the now to the next," a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/07/nokia-tube_1.html" class="regularArticleU"Nokia/a has set its sights on Internet services, next-generation wireless technology, and mobile application development./pp align="right"a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/jump/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?" target="_blank" /img src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/idg.us.info.rss/news;pos=imu;tile=6;sz=336x280;skey=patch_management;pkey=security;ord=123456789?" width="336" height="280" border="0" alt="" align="right"//a/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"Among the company's efforts include the impending beta release of a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/04/24/HNnokiasiliconvalley_1.html" class="regularArticleU"Point amp; Find/a, a technology for finding information and services on the Internet by pointing a camera at real-world objects. The upcoming beta release lets users watch a film trailer, read a film review, or find a nearby cinema to buy tickets by pointing a camera phone at a movie poster./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"In the wireless radio technology space, the company is focused on LTE (Long Term Evolution of Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network), said Jim Harper, a Nokia senior technology marketing manager. LTE requires fewer network elements than earlier-generation networks, and it requires no circuit-switching, he said. It's being proposed as a competitor to WiMax, a technology that Sprint has begun rolling out in the U.S. this fall./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"b[ Does/b bWiMax deliver? Find out in the InfoWorld Test Center's road test: a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/09/29/40TC-wimax-road-test_1.html?source=fssr" class="regularArticleU""Does WiMax work in the real world?"/a ]/b/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"In the development tools space, Nokia is positioning its Qt application development framework (pronounced "cute") as a platform for building applications to run on different types of systems. Applications also can be developed once and run across various desktop OSes, said Dilip Kenchammana, a Nokia product line manager./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"Another focus is cognitive radio, in which a device can dynamically jump between different frequency bands to increase bandwidth capacity, for purposes such as sending audio bits or data./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"Nokia has also previewed several research projects, including:/pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"* Videoconferencing pet, which features a mobile unit that can, for example, let grandparents catch a glimpse of their far-away grandchildren. It acts as a physical avatar of the caller./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"img src="" border="0" height="280" width="267" sys_contentid="118227" sys_variantid="305"//pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"* Mobile 3D video, which provides immersive video experiences and rich communication./pp class="ArticleBody" page="1"* Mobile Millenium, which offers a next-generation real-time traffic data platform that uses GPS-enabled phones gather data on traffic./p/divbr style=clear: both;/ a href=http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=b1d793e55ff8767f5c8b0cbbaa10bbe4p=1img alt= style=border: 0; border=0 src=http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?s=b1d793e55ff8767f5c8b0cbbaa10bbe4p=1//a img src=http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=b1d793e55ff8767f5c8b0cbbaa10bbe4 style=display: none; border=0 height=1 width=1 alt=/